Five-year-old boy in Aleppo receives aid from UNICEF. (Archive) INTERVIEW | UN Resident Coordinator in Syria: Humanitarian Operations Had to Be Suspended Humanitarian Aid
The UN urgently needs resources to deliver humanitarian aid to people affected by the fighting in northwest Syria. To date, the Organization has received only 28 percent of the amount it requested to support Syrians in need even before the influx of Lebanese refugees and the latest outbreak of fighting in the country, and only 17 percent of the amount the UN additionally requested when the influx of displaced people from Lebanon began.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Syria Adam Abdelmoula spoke about this in an interview with the UN News Service on Wednesday. He called the situation in the country “catastrophic” and the current escalation of hostilities in the northwest of the country the “third layer” of the Syrian crisis.
“The year began with 16.7 million Syrians in need of humanitarian aid. That is, more than one third of the country’s population needed humanitarian aid. In addition to this, starting in September, we began to see a huge influx of Syrians and Lebanese fleeing the war in Lebanon to Syria. This number has reached almost 600 thousand people,” Abdelmoula said.
“And before we could respond to the needs of the new arrivals, we witnessed military action in Aleppo in the last week,” he added.
The escalation of violence in the northwest has so far displaced 178,000 people. They are now internally displaced. Hundreds have died, Abdelmoula said. He clarified that his team has not yet conducted an independent assessment of the number of civilian casualties.
“In many areas, people have not even been able to reach the sites where the dead were to collect the bodies and bury them with dignity,” the Resident Coordinator said.
Almost all humanitarian operations have been suspended
At the moment, Abdelmoula noted, almost all humanitarian operations have been suspended. The humanitarian community is unable to provide support to the population.
“Our team in Aleppo is in the Shahba Hotel and is unable to move,” the Resident Coordinator said. Attempts are currently being made to reach an agreement with the local de facto authorities and evacuate the staff from Aleppo.
“And we have absolutely no resources left to meet the enormous needs associated with this new phase of the Syrian crisis,” Abdelmula said.
According to him, there are also staff from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Aleppo, but they also do not have the capacity to provide the population with the necessary support.